Broken Silence: Alternative
by Whisper of Yesterday
Summary: One-shot: 'Detention is hell,' Hermione thought... She glanced over at the reason she lost her calm manner in class today and glared at the back of the platinum blond head. Alternative ending, not a sequel.


**Once again, I own nothing but the plot I created, bending the characters to my will.**

**NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE SAME STORY AS 'Broken Silence' AND DOES NOT REQUIRE READING. 'TIS SIMPLY AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION.**

**PLEASE ENJOY!**

'_Detention is hell_,' Hermione thought as she scrubbed at the dungeon's grimy floor. She glanced over at the reason she lost her calm manner in class today and glared at the back of the platinum blond head. Just looking in his direction made her angrier! '_Well, better put that anger to good use._' With that thought she moved the scrub brush even more vigorously, finally dislodging the first layer in what looked like a build-up of decades' worth of burnt ingredients stuffed and smashed into the crack between the wall and the floor.

She sighed and took a moment to wipe the back of her hand over her forehead. While she was in the cool dungeon, it was springtime and physical labor made her hot after a while. Taking another moment, as Snape had left much earlier as it was nearing midnight, she stood slowly, stretching out her legs a she did before bending backwards a bit to each side to pop her back out. Hermione reached her arms up and stretched them out too. '_Snape wouldn't have left if he didn't set up a non-magic ward. Why couldn't he just be careless and not have set it up just once._'

Sighing again, Hermione took of her outer robe, folded it, and placed it on a nearby table, '_Something I should have done a long time ago. It gets too hot down here where you're working with no windows. It would be much better if I was stuck with Harry or Ron; no, I had to go and blow up at the Ferret. Damn. Bloody hell, those boys are rubbing off on my language!_' Sighing for the third time, she resignedly knelt back down to work on that stubborn patch of grime; the brunette glared at it as if it would scrub itself anyway. When it didn't, she glared harder, sighed yet again, and set to work.

"Would you stop all that bloody sighing?! It's getting on my last nerve," came from the evil blonde's half of the room. Malfoy looked over and glared at Hermione with cold gray eyes and continued, "This is all your fault we're stuck doing a House Elf's job."

That last statement really got Hermione's attention. Brown eyes flashing and hair flying, she whipped to her feet, stalked over to Malfoy and pulled him up by the front of his uniform. He wasn't the only one surprised by her actions; Hermione's mental voice, the one she usually listened to and was reasonable, was shouting at her for doing another stupid and unnecessary thing.

"Listen to me closely, Ferret, because I will only say this once," Hermione said softly in his face, eyes narrowed dangerously. "One, House Elves are creatures with rights as members of the magical community just as witches and wizards have the same rights. Two, it was not my fault that we are here serving detention. If it was Potions that this happened in, you would not be here and I would have to do all this by myself, probably with something else added as a surprise just for me being a Gryffindor. Besides, if you hadn't decided to attempt that nasty hex while my back was to you in Charms, I would not have felt the need to over-retaliate in your general direction. Now, I don't like you and you don't like me, so why don't we just finish this blasted detention out in peace and not speak to each other again. Deal?"

Hermione released Malfoy's now-rumpled sweater and stuck out her hand in a symbol of truce. The Slytherin looked down at her hand with a disgusted look; he simply nodded sharply and turned away, going back to his cleaning. The brunette looked surprised for a split second and smiled slightly as she made her way back to her side of the room, once more attacking the defiant patch on the floor.

An hour passed before Hermione realized something odd about the Slytherin's behavior. "You haven't called me a Mudblood this whole time," she voiced in surprise. Startled by the break in the silence, Malfoy jumped slightly and knocked over his bucket of water. Swearing like a sailor and unlike the rich boy that he was, he picked up the bucket quickly and went over to the faucet in the back of the room to fill it up again.

Feeling Hermione's inquisitive eyes on his back, he answered gruffly, "Did you want me to call you that?" He turned off the faucet and added soap t the water and went back to his side of the room to continue cleaning.

Hermione blushed and said, "No, of course not. I…I was just wondering about the change… I didn't mean to sound so rude, Malfoy." She looked over at him and was surprised to see him looking over at her already with a strangely neutral expression on his face.

Malfoy stood up again and slowly walked over to her; as he did, Hermione made her way to her feet as well, curiosity in her eyes and written on her face as she wondered, '_What has gotten into him that he being…polite? Is that the word?_'

The blond stood in front of her, the neutral mask still in place and he said simply, "Draco." Hermione eyes widened in surprise and at first she didn't understand. Once comprehension dawned, her eyes widened even further and she asked incredulously, "You want me to call you by your first name?"

"Why not? I'm tired of this pointless and childish animosity between us, our friends, and our Houses. It is meaningless and frankly takes up too much time to put on appearances for the sake of others that really don't give a damn in the first place. I'm tired of being a source of entertainment for this school. So, yes, I would like to call a permanent truce between you and I and I think the first step is to offer you the use of my first name." He offered out a hand, much like she had done an hour before.

Hermione slowly took it and hold on to pull him closer and look discerningly into his eyes. '_The mask he held in place so perfectly is good, but not at this distance_,' Hermione thought, mildly shocked at what she found in his eyes. '_That's why Malfoy's – no, Draco's hex was so weak and bright. It was a ruse to get me here, but not harm me._' Hermione, still holding Draco's hand in a firm grip, pulled him slightly closer and peered even further into his gray eyes. '_His eyes are so sad. He really is tired of this stupid rivalry. And there is something else…_' Hermione's eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to figure out what that emotion in Draco's eyes was; she just couldn't put a finger on it! '_Well, I suppose I should answer him before he thinks I'm rude._'

"Well, if I call you Draco, you had better call me Hermione. That's my condition on this deal. This that okay," she said, shaking his hand and releasing it, smiling. Draco's face melted into relief and he nodded. Still smiling, Hermione turned away to walk towards her slowly receding patch of grime and said, "Well Draco, we had better get back to this mess if we ever want to get out of here."

"I agree, though I am happy it's Friday night and we don't have to wake up early for classes after this detention," Draco responded, also attacking a spot of the floor with his scrub brush a little more enthusiastically than before.

Hermione groaned while moving to another spot on the floor, planning on going back to the 'spot-of-evil' as she dubbed it. "That would be horrible! I don't think I would make the day through without napping between classes!" Hermione stopped scrubbing as she heard something strange; she turned to look at Draco. He was laughing. Not the evil laugh he had before, but a sincere laugh. '_How fake his other laughs sound now that I've heard a genuine laugh from him. It sounds so happy and normal. He has a really deep a rich laugh that you associate with someone who laughs all the time_,' the brunette thought.

While she was thinking this, Draco, still chuckling a bit, turned to look at her and said teasingly, "We can't have the smartest student in the school falling asleep in classes; just outside of them!" His eyes sparkled with mischief and he laughed again at her expression. "What is that perplexed look for? You've heard me laugh plenty of times before," he said.

"Not like that," Hermione responded. "No, not like that. Not a real laugh. Not a kind laugh." When Hermione saw that Draco's expression sobered at her remark, she quickly added, panicking, "I…I like that laugh, the real one. It makes me want to laugh with you. It's a warm sound." Blushing, she quickly turned around and looked at her part of the floor, clean now but for the 'spot-of-evil'. Glaring at it, she released a string of curses picked up from too much time with Harry and Ron. She sighed, and went to stand to change the murky water in her bucket for new clear water and was startled to find Draco right there, armed with a fresh bucket of water.

"You're done with your part already," Hermione asked. She continued, "Well, I guess I'll see you in class on Monday, I still have to deal with the 'spot-of-evil'." At Draco's raised eyebrows, she mutely pointed at said spot.

Draco eyed the spot with the same contempt she felt for it and said, "I'll help you with the "spot-of-evil"," he smiled and used air quotes, "if you do something for me afterwards."

Hermione, not one to trust easily, asked warily, "What something would I do for you?"

Draco held his hands out in a peaceful gesture and said simply, "Nothing bad, I promise. I'll even help you with this part if you'll consider granting me this favor. You don't have to if you don't want to; what kind of new friend would I be if I forced you to do something you didn't want to do?"

The brunette smiled and said, "Okay, I accept your offer! Now, let's get to work."

The two Hogwarts students worked relentlessly on the spot for another hour and then, as if by magic, the spot disappeared under one last swipe of Draco's brush. He sat back on his heels and wiped the back of his hand over his forehead and said with a weary glance over at his companion, "I thought you were exaggerating when you called that thing the 'spot-of-evil', but that was the best name for that. It took forever to get off!"

Hermione smiled wryly in his direction, "See? I was telling the truth! That thing was evil, but at least we killed it. Now," she stood up and took her bucket over to the drain by the faucet to dump it out, "what was the favor that you wanted? I think you deserve it for staying and helping me." She placed the bucket on the table with the rest of the cleaning supplies and sat on it as she waited for Draco to empty his own bucket and walk over to her.

Draco placed his bucket next to hers and stood in front of her. "The favor I wanted is…," he mumbled something Hermione couldn't hear and started blushing, the pink color very apparent on his fair face, and turned his head away to look at the wall to his right.

Hermione blinked in surprise at his uncharacteristically shy behavior and asked, "Umm, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat that?"

Draco slowly turned his head to look her straight in the eyes and said, "Do you think you could hand this to Ha-- Potter, for me?" The Slytherin roughly shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants and brought it back out, a slightly crumpled piece of folded parchment in his hand. He pushed it into the genius-girl's hand and faced the apparently interesting dungeon wall to his right once again, the blush on his face reaching a brighter rosy hue. Hermione's mouth curved into a smile.

"Draco? Is this a love letter?" There was no response from the young man except for the tell-tale twitch of fingers tightening briefly into fists at the question.

Hermione sighed and picked up her robes and putting them on, placing the note carefully in her pocket. The brunette made for the door, but stopped just before she shut it behind her and turned to the reason for this detention, which was becoming more apparent by the minute. She decided to play mischievous matchmaker for once and opened her mouth to tell him something before he snapped his head towards her.

"Well, Hermione? Will you give it to him or won't you? Because if you won't, I would appreciate---"

Hermione interrupted with a smirk that would have made the Weasley twins proud and said, "Draco dear, Harry has been pining for you for three years. If you want, I'll give him the note. Personally, I think he'd much prefer a good snog in the Astronomy Tower...about an hour from now alright with your schedule?" The Gryffindor winked cheekily at the speechless Slytherin, let the door to Snape's classroom slam behind her, and quickly made her way to the red and gold Common Room to tell Harry that there was something e needed to see in the Astronomy Tower.

Back in Snape's classroom, Draco stood still, mouth open in shock. His brain then processed what his new friend had told him and he grabbed his robe off the nearby table and ran as fast as he could to the Astronomy Tower.

Hermione smiled to herself happily as she prepared for bed, remembering the look of utter rapture on Harry's face before he blew out the door on his way to meet his long-time crush after kissing her on the cheek. She smiled even wider at the stupid and speechless look Draco had on his face right before the dungeon door shut. The brunette climbed into bed and realized that she and Snape actually agreed on something, and something not academic in nature at that!

Detention is best spent in silence.


End file.
